Chapter Text
“Bee!” Tommy yelled into the night, hoping his earpiece would pick it up. He ducked behind a corner and plastered himself to the wall, only waiting a second before peeking around the corner he had just turned. Less than a block away, and approaching fast, was the reason he was running. “Bee!” he whisper-yelled, starting away from the wall.
“Are you finally using my code name and not potentially giving away my name to anyone listening? Who are you, and what have you done to Tommy?” Came a voice from inside Tommy’s ear.
“Not the time!” He urgently whisper-yelled back, just having looked over his shoulder; his pursuer had just rounded the corner and located him again. “You said there wouldn’t be any heroes at the bank!”
“A hero??? I swear there weren’t any listed in the area, which one was it?” Tubbo had lost the teasing tone to his voice.
“The Inch!” Tommy was sure the desperation in his voice carried across their comms.
“Oh, fuck.”
***
This was not how Tommy wanted to spend his evening. He had started it out hoping he could stop a mugging or two, maybe even save some people from a fire. But when Tubbo had spoken through his earpiece, alerting him of a bank robbery happening near him, Tommy was glad for something to do. Don’t get him wrong, it sucked for whoever was in that bank, but they would at least be lucky that Tommy Innit was nearby.
As Tommy made his way over with Tubbo's directions, Tubbo continued informing him of the situation, “There are three robbers, and about half a dozen civilians, plus two tillers, and a manager.” Presumably, Tubbo had already gained access to the camera system and was watching the current goings on.
It took Tommy less than a minute to get to the bank and slip into a side door, and just as he did, Tubbo spoke again, a bit unnerved, “I just lost visuals, there might be another robber, b-... car—.....” He’d started fizzling out at the end, and Tommy was forced to switch his earpiece off or risk going deaf from the static.
“Fuckin’ jammers?” Tommy whispered to himself as he rounded a corner. He immediately came face to face with what he assumed was one of the robbers, unless civilians had started wearing ski-masks for fun, coming out of a room marked ‘Security’.
Tommy couldn’t risk them alerting their companions of his presence, so he had to take them out fast. He didn't waste a second as he sprinted directly at them, at the last second sliding around them and pulling out his stun baton, one of the many gadgets made for him by the one and only Tubbo. In one fluid motion he sprung up behind them and shoved the baton into their side.
They went down instantly; must not have been very strong. Now that Tommy was looking at them more, they weren't very big, which meant Tommy had no problem dragging them back into the security room they had come out of in the first place.
The first thing Tommy noted, after zip-tying the robber to a pipe, was that all the cameras were down, though Tubbo had already alerted Tommy to that problem before they lost comms. It was probably the person he just took down that disabled the cameras, and once Tommy thought about it, he realized they probably took down comms as well. Now, even though he lived with Tubbo, Tommy wasn’t the most technologically savvy, so, despite spending the next minute trying to figure out what they had done, he had no clue how to fix it.
At this point, Tommy had already wasted enough time on not actually fixing shit instead of helping the hostages, so, as quietly as he could, the boy snuck back out of the room and headed toward the lobby where he presumed the rest of the criminals were.
The scene Tommy came across was not the scene he expected. The other two robbers were incapacitated on the ground, one already in handcuffs, and the one who wasn’t already was currently being put in them. What scared Tommy though, was the person putting the cuffs on them. There, crouched above them, was The Inch.
Now, if Inch was just a normal hero, Tommy wouldn’t be as terrified as he was. But the fact that he, a top 10 hero, often working side by side with The Crowfather, one of the best heroes in a city that outlawed vigilantes, stood there. Now, that terrified him: a vigilante. He needed to get out of there, but perhaps he had tried to get out a bit too fast, as when he turned to flee, he ended up slipping and almost faceplanting.
“Who’s there?” Inch had clearly heard, and was now looking directly at Tommy.
“Oh, you know… backup.” Tommy hoped he sounded convincing enough to allow him to slip away. “By the way, you totally missed the dude that cut cameras and jammed comms.” Tommy just kept talking, hoping to distract Inch from how he was slowly backing up.
“Makes sense why I couldn’t get a hold of anyone.” He spoke at first, then it seemed to click in his head. “Hold on, identify yourself.”
“Welp, gotta go, bye!” Tommy turned, darting out the way he had come in. Inch had definitely realized what Tommy was at this point, and he could hear him break into a run behind him.
That’s how Tommy had found himself in his current predicament.
***
“How the fuck do I lose him?” Tommy had just jumped over a fence, assisted by his boots, only to watch Inch shrink down and effortlessly slip through one of the chain links.
“I’m trying to find a way!” Tubbo replied. Frantic typing followed as Tommy continued to weave through alleyways, hoping to lose his tail.
“Can’t Void… come help?” Tommy was starting to tire out from the constant running, and the breathlessness in his voice was evidence of that.
“He’s still out job searching, remember?” Tubbo reminded him. “Okay, I've got it! Turn left!”
Tommy replied with an “Ugh,” but proceeded to follow his instructions. Tubbo guided him through a couple more turns until Tommy came upon a bridge.
“Okay, you need to jump.”
Tommy immediately replied with “What!?”
As Tommy ran to the side of the bridge, he spotted what Tubbo meant.
“Seriously?!?”
"Just do it!"
Tommy looked over to see where Inch was as he climbed onto the wall of the bridge, saluting as he dropped off.
It was only like a 10 foot drop before he thudded onto the roof of a train that had been passing under the bridge. Tommy sat there for a little while, watching Inch run to where he had jumped off, but by the time he had gotten there, the train had finished exiting the tunnel, and he wouldn’t be able to follow.
A relieved “Fuck,” left Tommy’s mouth as he fully layed back, taking the moment to rest after the nonstop sprinting.
“So, you planning to do any more tonight?” Tubbo’s voice once again came from inside his ear.
“Nope, I’m done.” Tommy was exhausted, even if he wanted to do more, he wasn’t entirely sure he would be able to.
“Okay. Ran just got back, so see you at home, bossman.”
Tommy just laid there, letting himself relax. He’d start heading home in a bit.